The Fibre Garden : combed top
Showing 1–18 of 27 results
combed top
Angora, Super-soft White
100% Angora rabbit. Very fine and clean combed top, a lovely creamy-white shade. With a micron count of 11 to 13 this is amazingly soft. Staple length 2.5 inches. From Ashland Bay.
Angora is from bunnies, and is considered to be a superb luxury fibre. It's usually blended with a fine wool or other fine fibre. By itself, angora is extremely warm, eight times warmer than wool. Felting properties are good.
PRODUCT of CHINA
Bamboo (Top)
100% Viscose of Bamboo.
Very clean combed top, pearly-white in colour. Staple length is 3.5 to 4 inches.
PRODUCT of CHINA
Camel, Baby – Soft Fawn (Top)
100% Baby Camel.
Lovely and clean combed top. A very special lot of camel from the Alashan Plateau of Mongolia and China. The soft fawn colour and 17.7 micron fibre diameter make for a truly luxurious spin. Staple length is around 2 inches. From Ashland Bay.
PRODUCT of CHINA
Cashmere – Cream Mongolian (Top)
100% Cashmere.
Fine combed top, very clean. Staple length about 2 inches, the colour is ivory-cream (not as white as our photo). Lovely and super-soft at 16 microns.
One of the most luxurious and soft fibres, from the cashmere goat. Not for beginning spinners because of the short staple, but one to aspire towards. Absolutely awesome in blends with fine wools and all sorts of other stuff.
PRODUCT of MONGOLIA
Corn Fibre (Top)
100% Corn Fibre. Also known as Ingeo.
Extremely clean combed top. Pristine, true white in colour. Staple length is 4 to 5 inches.
One of the "new" man-made fibres, and apparently it stands up pretty well to any "green" claims about its manufacture. As a spinning or knitting fibre, it is soft and lustrous, breathes and absorbs moisture well, has good drape and warmth and is easy to care for. Corn is machine washable but should be air or tumble dried only. Do not iron!
Considered a plant or cellulose fibre but neither acid nor fibre reactive dyes will work on corn fibre. Natural dyers could try using techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. We do not know yet how corn behaves in an indigo bath.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the corn alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.
Cotton Top – White Egyptian
100% Cotton.
Natural creamy-white Egyptian cotton, with a generous staple length of 1 to 1.5 inches. Apparently easy to spin. Combed top, super clean.
PRODUCT of EGYPT
Hemp – Bleached (Top)
100% Hemp.
This is beautiful stuff, the finest hemp we have ever seen and a local lady with a lot of experience spinning hemp tried it and agrees! If you want to dye your hemp fibre, this bleached version will give you nice, clear and bright colours.
Very clean combed top, bleached to an off-white. Staple length is 6 to 7 inches. Hemp is a bast (stem) fibre from a very tall plant, essentially a strain of marijuana developed for fibre instead of other uses. Spun in a manner much like flax, the two also share the attribute of being harsh at first and just getting better and better over time with wear and laundering. It can be spun all by itself or blended with wool and other fibres. This has a light characteristic hemp scent but it's not overwhelming and should not be offensive to the nose during spinning.
Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers must resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. Hemp also works well in an indigo vat.
PRODUCT of CHINA
Hemp – Natural Brown (Top)
100% Hemp.
This is beautiful stuff, the finest hemp we have ever seen and a local lady with a lot of experience spinning hemp tried it and agrees!
Very clean combed top, in a natural tan colour. Staple length is 6 to 7 inches. Hemp is a bast (stem) fibre from a very tall plant, essentially a strain of marijuana developed for fibre instead of other uses. Spun in a manner much like flax, the two also share the attribute of being harsh at first and just getting better and better over time with wear and laundering. It can be spun all by itself or blended with wool and other fibres. This has a light characteristic hemp scent but it's not overwhelming and should not be offensive to the nose during spinning.
Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers must resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. Hemp also works well in an indigo vat.
PRODUCT of CHINA
Milk Protein (Top)
100% Milk Protein Fibre. Also known as Latte.
Extremely clean combed top in natural ivory-cream. Staple length is about 4 inches.
One of the "new" man-made fibres, with a manufacturing process very similar to soy fibre. Said to be even softer than soy, and with good lustre. We can't find much for references to describe the drape in finished garments but we are guessing it's probably excellent.
Considered a protein fibre, so acid dyes will work very nicely. Probably so will natural dyes with the usual protein-fibre premordanting methods. Somebody told us that if you take the dyebath temperatures too close to boiling, this fibre will dissolve. Urban myth? You tell us!
Northern Lights Autumn Leaves
Combed 100% wool top/sliver. Space-dyed in scarlet, gold, forest green, rust and taupe with the occasional touch of cream.
PRODUCT of BELGIUM
Northern Lights Blue Spruce
Combed 100% wool top/sliver. Space-dyed in deep navy, light sand-tan, slate grey-blue, taupe grey-brown and ivory with a touch of denim blue. NOTE: this colourway is rather poorly named and does not really contain any bright blue tones.
PRODUCT of BELGIUM
Northern Lights Cotton Candy
Combed 100% wool top/sliver. Space-dyed in soft lemon-yellow, sky blue, lavender and creamy orange.
PRODUCT of BELGIUM
Northern Lights Grape Jelly
Combed 100% wool top/sliver. Space-dyed in bright grape-purple, sky blue and indigo.
PRODUCT of BELGIUM
Northern Lights Ocean Waves
Combed 100% wool top/sliver. Space-dyed in deep teal, sky blue, black and rich sapphire.
PRODUCT of BELGIUM
Nylon – Fake Cashmere (Top)
100% Nylon.
Extremely clean combed top, possibly the whitest fibre we carry. Staple length is about 3 to 4 inches which makes this top-notch for blending with almost anything. Few would spin Nylon all by itself, but it has a great reputation for adding strength and durability to other fibres, especially when spinning yarns for socks. This is a fine grade that you won't even notice when blended in at a rate of 20 to 25% or so, by weight.
Surprisingly, Nylon dyes beautifully with acid dyes. It also takes natural dyes well using the usual premordant methods for protein fibres. We love the moniker of "Fake Cashmere", but your fingers will never confuse it from the real thing. It feels more like those puffs they stick inside pill bottles. Maybe it is.
Ramie (Top)
100% Ramie.
Very clean combed top, in pencil-roving width. Staple length is 7 to 8 inches. Ramie comes from the stem (bast) fibre of a tropical plant. Typically it is bleached to an almost pure white. Our supply is very fine and soft. Ramie can be spun by itself or used in blends. It's well-suited for lighter summer wear, from against-the-skin to outerwear. An intriguing fibre for those that can't wear wool. <
Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers can resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. We don't know how Ramie responds in an indigo vat.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the ramie alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.
Silk Top, Tussah (Bleached)
100% silk.
Combed top, bleached but still an ivory-cream colour. Staple length is about 6 to 7 inches. If you plan on using your silk for blending, Tussah silk is nearly always a better value fibre than Cultivated silk.
Silk top is easy to dye, using either acid dyes, fibre reactive dyes, or natural dyes.
For spinning, silk top may be spun all by itself or used for blending with a myriad of other fibres.
Silk, Red Eri (Sliver) – 50g
100% Eri Silk.
A less common silk for spinners but widely cultivated in India and also known as Endi, Errandi or Peace Silk. Because the cocoons are not harvested until after the moth emerges, this is considered to be an acceptable fibre by some vegans. Used for all kinds of fabrics for garments as well as bedding, pillows, etc.
This is in beautiful combed top, our current supply is MUCH redder than this photo, a stunning cinnamon red. Eri silk comes in several natural shades.
PRODUCT of INDIA